From India to England, remote work appears to be the only thing more in demand than Barbie merch this summer. That’s according to new data from Flexa, a platform that connects job candidates with employers offering flexible work arrangements.
Where in the world? Some 88% of global workers want a work-from-anywhere policy, a 10% increase between April and June, according to Flexa. Additionally, 59% prefer a remote role, a 13% increase in demand during the same time period—a shift, the report notes, that aligns with the onset of summer.
Employees in the UK work from home the most in Europe, according to a July report from the IFO Center for Macroeconomics and Surveys that looked at remote work in 34 countries. They work remotely an average of 1.5 days a week, slightly more than the average of 1 days a week logged by workers in Finland, Germany, and the Netherlands. Alternatively, employees in Greece are remote the least in Europe, just 0.5 days a week.
Workers across the globe are in the office more than they want to be, the survey found, with those in English-speaking countries, as well as those in Latin and South America, wanting to work from home at least two days a week.
“Even in the aftermath of the pandemic, the majority of workers highly value the opportunity to work from home for a portion of their workweek,” according to the report.
Satellite view. One-third of US-based workers are still remote, according to the Washington Post, despite an increase in return-to-office (RTO) mandates. But there’s a marked difference in who’s working remotely: The Post reports that women, who are more likely to also act as caretakers, work from home at higher rates than men.
“I’m finding that companies, as well as their employees, are really getting themselves to strike that right balance and really strike the balance of productivity as well as flexibility,” Dawn Fay, an operational president at Robert Half, told Insider.
No matter how global employers shape their work policies, you can find me working from Barbie’s Malibu Dreamhouse.
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